4.3 & T13…as of now anyway

Blizzard has released T13 images and bonuses, as well as some changes to be expected next patch. Things being as subject to change as they usually are, time will tell what we’ll actually see when this goes live.

Full test realm patch notes can be found here. As for the Priest changes:

Atonement will now account for the target enemy’s combat reach when calculating proper range, enabling it to be used on large creatures such as Ragnaros and Ala’kir.

Divine Aegis has a new spell effect.

Holy

Spirit of Redemption has been rebuilt to address a few functionality issues and make it more responsive. Spirit of Redemption otherwise remains unchanged.

State of Mind has been redesigned and is now called Heavenly Voice. Heavenly Voice increases the healing done by Divine Hymn by 50/100%, and reduces the cooldown of Divine Hymn by 2.5/5 minutes.

Glyphs

Glyph of Circle of Healing now also increases the mana cost of Circle of Healing by 20%.

My thoughts? Divine Hymn changes are great. I am very glad for Holy Priests that they now have a raid CD. As for Atonement – ’bout time. I am a huge fan of Atonement healing, mostly for a change of pace and something to friggin’ DO when damage is low.

T13

Tier Bonuses (as of now) are:

Healer, 2P — After using Power Infusion or Divine Hymn, the mana cost of your healing spells is reduced by 25% for [10|23] sec. (10 sec for Discipline, 23 for non-Discipline.)
Healer, 4P — Your Power Word: Shield has a 10% chance to absorb 100% additional damage and increase the mana granted by Rapture by 100%, and the duration of your Holy Word abilities is increased by 20%.

First off – geez guys, you’re saying Holy doesn’t even deserve a spec name of its own? And they get a crappy bonus as well? Even with the time adjustment, Disc has a serious advantage by benefitting from 2 spells. Furthermore, the spell that Holy (not non-Disc darnit!) uses to proc the bonus is a CD to be used at certain times like all raid CDs.

Ok, now to the Disc stuff. According to Sun_Tzu’s math on Elitist Jerks – the 2pc is a 458 Mp5 boost. Ok. Not bad, but kinda boring. Keep in mind that mana reduction buffs stack multiplicatively instead of additively – it is not a 45% reduction. Adding Jaws of Defeat will also add multiplicatively. Some term this as losing a mana reduction. Stuck on semantics as I am – you can’t lose something you never had and while it’s not as much of a reduction as the layperson would think by adding the procs it is still more reduction than any of them on their own.

As for the 4pc – my biggest concern is the effect this will have on using Power Word: Shield in addition to proccing Rapture. If that big bubble with the big Rapture never pops then there is little use in it, no? I would really like to know if there is any way one could be able to tell if the bonus procced as well. I still occasionally use the Avengers of Hyjal rep trinket with its on-use Int boost. That would be suhweeeet timed with a double rapture. 10% is a low proc rate. I would much rather see a higher proc rate with a shorter CD – making the bonus more predictable.

In short – I personally would like a more interesting bonus. I feel like the 2pc is only a little under where it should be for Disc as a mana saving mechanic. The 4pc is estimated to give a further 437.5 Mp5 with 150k mana. Not bad, but the throughput bonus is unpredictable and small. I believe that Disc has reached a point of not needing much in the way of mana efficiency bonuses. Going into a new tier with higher item levels (and likely more spirit gear) will make us even less concerned with saving mana. I, like many Disc priests, have already started forging out of Spirit. I really wish that Blizz would think of set bonuses that are more dynamic than adding effects to spells we already have.

And – the design as of now. I feel lucky that I prefer the female model…I don’t have a beard for a reason! Not my favorite, but not half bad…and OMG NO TOILETS!!